"It will definitely be different going back to Mobile but not playing," Daly-Donofrio said in a telephone interview with the Press-Register.

Daly-Donofrio won the 2004 Mitchell Company LPGA Tournament of Champions at the Crossings Course. Next week, she'll return as media relations coordinator for the Bell Micro LPGA Classic, scheduled for May 13-16.

Daly-Donofrio said her best memories of Mobile include the hospitality, the clubhouse staff and the chef (John Kosterman).

"The city of Mobile is just a very comfortable place," she said. "It feels very homey and I'm comfortable there. It's always special being back there whether I'm playing or not."

She has yet to see the Crossings Course since it underwent dramatic renovations recently. But she likes the course she remembers. Kind of.

"I had a love-hate relationship with the course," she admitted. "I hated it at first. But then I won there and I really started to like it. I'm really looking forward to seeing the changes they have made to the course."

The Bell Micro LPGA Classic, which started in 2008 -- with Daly-Donofrio in the field -- wasn't played last season, giving the course more time to mature.

"The first thing I'm going to do is hop in a cart and ride around and look at all the changes," she said. "That's going to be a big part of the story. Some of the players who went down there in February have said they really like the changes, and it will be fun to see how the course plays with the changes."

Daly-Donofrio says her new job has been a natural adjustment. She started with the LPGA Tour as a part-time liason in 2008 before moving to her current job full-time this year.

"It was a natural transition to stay within the organization, plus I can still travel with friends and I know most of the places where we travel and what to expect," she said

The big difference, of course, comes when she arrives at a tournament.

"I miss the competition," Daly-Donofrio said. "When I'm watching a tournament and they're in the heat of the battle ... watching to see who wins, that itch to play again is there because you want to be there and be competing. I'm always going to miss the competition."

Daly-Donofrio said it was tougher last year.

She has started to adjust. She said a recent conversation with former player Amy Alcott helped.

"She told me that's never going to go away, that feeling of wanting to compete," Daly-Donofrio said. "I was happy to hear that. But the reality is, your priorities change. ... I miss the competition, but I don't miss the preparation. I don't miss all the practice you have to go through and I don't miss the mental strain.

"I think when you stop playing you only remember the times you played well. You don't remember the times you struggled as much. It's tough at times because that was your identity. The sport is your drug."

But Daly-Donofrio, who earned $1.1 million as a professional, said her new job has plenty of pluses. She believes her knowledge of the city and the course will make Mobile one of the more comfortable stops for her this season.